


Desperation

by Forthediehards



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Gen, Keith whump, Temporary Character Death, This is platonic/gen but the relationship between Keith and Matt is supposed to be pretty feelsy, is that kangst??????, matt is a hero ya'll
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-18 00:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12377277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forthediehards/pseuds/Forthediehards
Summary: Keith doesn’t manage to pull his ship up fast enough after Lotor attacks Haggar’s. However, he manages to avoid the brunt of the blast, but his life is in extreme danger and it’s up to Matt to step in and try to save it - while the paladins of Voltron watch anxiously over a live feed.





	Desperation

**Author's Note:**

> This…is just something I had to get out of my system? Tread carefully, as there is some temporary character death here and detailed descriptions of CPR, but Matt is a damn hero and bless him honestly. Let me know what you think! Your feedback will fuel my motivation to write the second half lmao. Thanks for clicking in and I hope you enjoy!

It was absolutely breath-taking. The explosion had been like none Matt had ever seen before. Ominous glows of yellow and purple grew brighter, more angry as they spread across the battlefield and bits of Haggar’s ship hit against their shields with gentle ‘thumps.’ It was like interstellar fireworks, if Matt had to describe it in any comparative way.

He couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away, even if he knew that devastation crept beneath the guise of lights and sounds. It was a heart-stopping moment when his shock wore off and he immediately remembered that Keith had been hurling towards that ship at top speeds only a moment ago and –

Oh god, no. Was he dead? No, no no….

“Keith?!” He rasped out, feeling like he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. “Keith! Answer me!”

“Matt, what’s happening?” Came Shiro’s response, and no, that wasn’t the voice he needed to hear right now. His chest constricted as he looked towards the video feed showing Shiro’s concerned face, and the blood froze to ice in his veins. How was he supposed to tell Keith’s team mates that he was gone?

“K-Keith…he…”

“He what, Matt? Keith! Keith, do you copy?”

There was a stunning silence that greeted them, and any hope that had blossomed in Matt’s chest, any thought he had that perhaps Keith would respond to Shiro instead, was all crushed to dust at the lack of acknowledgement.

“Matt! Matt, c’mon, answer us!” Now Pidge’s worried face lit up on the console, and what he wouldn’t give to be able to wrap his arms around his little sister and hold her so tight. But she was safe, safe and sound and Keith most certainly was not.

“I can’t – Keith – He’s….”

A flicker of light came to life on the dashboard, and Matt’s attention was immediately diverted to it. A red tracker beeped rapidly as it hovered over something in the debris, something that was registering… a biorhythm?

Realization dawned on him, and he immediately activated a tractor beam that would draw the object in towards his ship. No, not an object…Keith.

“He’s here! I found him!”

“What do you mean ‘found him’? Where was he, Matt? What’s going on?” Pidge persisted, her voice becoming more and more shaky as her demands grew. “What happened to him?”

“He stopped the attack by crashing his ship into that Witch’s!” Matt explained, fingers curled tightly around a control stick as he navigated Keith’s body towards the hangar. “He mustn’t have bared the brunt of the blow, because our ship managed to find him in the debris by picking up a weak heart rhythm. I’m pulling him in now with a tractor beam.”

“He what?”

That was a collective response from Pidge, Lance, and Shiro. In the background, he could hear Hunk and Allura exchanging other horrified exclamations as they tried to make sense of the situation. Matt understood. Keith wasn’t even as close to him as he was the paladins, but his heart ached at the thought of his existence being snuffed out so suddenly.

“Don’t worry, guys, I’ve got him. Hang tight, okay? I’ll keep the communications up, but I’ve gotta go get him out of the hangar.”

“We’re ahead of you, Matt! Keith is with us.” Captain Olia chimed in, and Matt’s head turned towards the speaker to his left. When had she gone down to the hangar? He hadn’t even seen anyone on his ship move since the explosion.

“Captain!” he exclaimed, warmth bursting in his chest at her support. “Thank you!”

“No need for thanks, Matt. We’re bringing him up now.”

There was mindless worried chatter coming from Voltron’s feed in the communications, but all Matt could hear was his own blood rushing in anticipation. Captain Olia was up on the bridge within seconds, and he all but sprinted across to the other end of the ship, carefully pulling Keith into his arms.

“Keith? Keith? C’mon, bud, it’s Matt. Open your eyes for me.” Matt deactivated the faceplate on the Blade armor, exposing Keith’s young face. Blood trickled down from a cut on his forehead, and Matt absently wiped it away in hopes it would prompt Keith to open his eyes. No such luck.

“We’ve got you, Keith, it’s gonna be okay. We’ll get you back to the castle, and it’ll be –” Matt cut himself short when he noticed that Keith’s chest was still. The systems had registered a weak cardiac rhythm and shallow respiration, but now it didn’t seem that Keith was breathing at all. “Shit!”

“Matt?” It was Pidge, but he ignored her call and pressed his ear against Keith’s chest in search of a heartbeat. He was met with icy silence, and more curses were uttered under his breath as he immediately jumped into action.

“Starting compressions!” He yelled, positioning his hands atop each other over Keith’s sternum. Captain Olia was at his side immediately, ready to assist where necessary. There were multiple cries of shock from Voltron’s feed, but there was no time to explain now. They could still see him from the video feed, so there was no need for explanation anyway.

“One, two, three, four…” Matt began counting out loud, until it became too difficult with the amount of force he was exerting on Keith’s sternum. He had only ever performed CPR once in his life and it had been absolutely horrifying, but he’d been successful in regaining a normal heart rhythm for that victim. He was determined to do that for Keith as well.

“What does he mean ‘chest compressions’? I thought he said Keith had a heartbeat!” Lance grit out worriedly, and Matt could hear the tremble in his voice. He shook his head and tried to block out the chatter as Shiro began to placate Lance.

After thirty compressions, Matt pulled back from Keith’s chest and immediately checked for a pulse. There was no present thump beneath his fingers, so he tilted Keith’s head back to open his airway and pinched the boy’s nose between his fingers. Matt sucked in a deep breath, prying open Keith’s mouth and covering it with his own to deposit his entire reserve of air into Keith’s lungs. His chest rose as his lungs inflated, and that was Matt’s cue to release one more breath into Keith’s lungs before pulling back to start compressions again.

“Matt!” Pidge screamed from the video feed behind him. He had no time to respond to her, even if her cry had sent a wave of pain through his chest. He set himself up over Keith’s sternum and began his next set of thirty compressions, feeling the bone give way beneath his palms. There was a sickening crack, one that even made Captain Olia wince, but he didn’t slow his rhythm or falter at all. The sternum cracking was a good sign, however awful it might have sounded. There was no way he was putting enough force on Keith’s heart without that telltale crack of his ribs beneath the compressions.

“Come on, Keith!” he cried out, willing the heart beneath his palm to pick up a normal sinus rhythm. Tears pricked in the corner of his eyes as he continued to push, push, push - reminding himself that every compression was a beat of Keith’s heart - a weak beat, but a beat nonetheless. “Come on. Breathe for me.”

Matt was breathing heavily by the time he finished the second set of compressions, and delivering two rescue breaths was going to be difficult. He looked desperately to Olia, who read the despair in his eyes and took the burden herself. She nodded curtly, leaning down to deliver two strong breaths into Keith’s lungs on Matt’s behalf, adequately raising the boy’s chest.

“Okay. Come on, Keith, we can do this.” he muttered beneath his breath, repositioning his hands for the third time over the newly cracked bones of Keith’s sternum. “We’re gonna get you back this time, bud.”

Matt counted off the compressions in his head, pumping Keith’s heart with fiery determination. He wasn’t giving up just yet, even if the compressions ended up sapping his energy away - he wouldn’t stop until Keith came back or he passed out himself.

“Matthew,” Olia spoke softly, catching his attention with ease. “Matt…I don’t think he’s coming back.”

“He’s coming back, Captain. Let me do this.” He grit back in response, his words broken up between heavy pants. “I know he’s coming back.”

“But you’re going to tire yourself–”

“With all due respect, Captain,” he breathed, his compressions never faltering. He had to collect some breath before he could finish his statement. “Let me do this.”

Olia remained silent after that, nodding solemnly as she took a step back. Matt knew this wasn’t the end for Keith, it just couldn’t be…

As he reached the twenty-sixth compression, he felt Keith twitch beneath his hands. He gave two more compressions for good measure, his chest bursting with hope as he waited for Keith to breathe–

And there it was. Keith gasped himself to life, body shuddering as his major systems began to resume their functions. Matt let out a cry of victory, rolling himself off of Keith and turning the boy on his side so he could better pull in some breaths.

“You’re okay, Keith. You’re okay. Just breathe. Shhh, just breathe.”

Keith was doing more coughing than he was breathing, but it was something at least. It took nearly a minute for the hacking to come to a stop, but in it’s wake came shaky breaths that were deep enough to sustain life. He was still unconscious, as Matt expected he might be, but when he pressed his ear to Keith’s chest, he heard a strong (if not rapid) thump thump thump, and at that point he knew everything was going to be okay.

“You did great, Keith. Now it’s time for you to rest.”

Tears rolled down Matt’s cheeks as he very carefully pulled Keith’s body into his arms. There were whoops of victory echoing from Voltron’s feed as Matt delicately cradled Keith in his arms bridal style, and he finally lifted his gaze to take a look and see the faces of his friends on screen.

“You did it, Matt! You saved him!” Pidge exclaimed through her tears, and Matt couldn’t help but smile at his sister’s words.

For now, everything was going to be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> So there's a second part I want to write, but it's not currently written. If you guys like this enough then I'll def write it out for you! I just really want to explore any sort of friendship/relationship between Matt and Keith tbh. You can also find me on tumblr at http://viiridians.tumblr.com :D


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